Christopher Gould
Competency in Leadership
Callaboration
All my professional work experience has been a collaborative effort. As an editor in the edit suit, I work with directors to create television programming, a collaborative effort between creative minds.
As a member of faculty in the college system, I stand in front of classrooms of eager students every day. I work closely with other faculty to design new curriculum or upgrade existing curriculum, a collaboration to fit together the scattered pieces of the quest for good education like a puzzle, so that I may present the very best course content in the most effectively designed curriculum possible.
As a manager and a leader in both studio departments and college programs, I work together with staff and crew collaboratively, to create the most positive, effective and efficient work environment possible
Cooperation
Communication
'Authentic growth is helping others grow authentically'. Effective giving, to individuals as well as to the community, is most congruent with the managing of any group of people.
As a young and inexperienced studio manager, I was forced to face the fact that the majority of my staff were 20 years my senior in life years. While I lacked the experience and knowledge they had acquired in over time. I did, however, have more experience with new methods of working as well as a grasp on the latest technology and software. Working closely with the senior members of my staff to assist them in their transition into the next generation of editing, was only part of the equation. The efforts became dynamic, in that the passing of knowledge and information was a two-way street. What I had to offer was only part of the equation, and so, in turn, I was able to learn first-hand knowledge from real life experiences.
As a program coordinator at a college I must consistently communicate well one-on-one and in group settings. It is imperative that my communication is consistent with my members of faculty. Consistent communication is required to insure that the program outcomes are met by all members. I seek feedback for improvement on a regular basis and respect others’ opinions of issues. I seek to build a professional learning community though dialogue and use storytelling as a tool to communicate authentic ideas and connect with my colleagues.
Creativity
Working in film and television, a knowledge-based community, requires both divergent and convergent thinking. My ability to think creatively in both these ways has proven, over and over throughout my career, to be paramount.
My ability to think divergently, creating “what if” scenarios and new ideas, has allowed for growth within all other departments. My tenaciousness and persistence through rough times never allowed me to waver or abandon any vision. My understanding of myself, my role and the needs of clients required me to remain steadfast in the face of adversity.
As the department manager of one of Canada's largest animation studios, organization was paramount in order to achieve successful completion of each project. Having had the privilege of overseeing 26 separate television series, any number of them occurring simultaneously at any given time, required me to always be 'on the ball' and to create schedules that were realistic but also designed to actually meet very stringent deadlines.
Organization
Responsibility
Technology is a privilage that has very quickly become a prominent part of our every-day lives, and as the saying goes, 'with privilage comes responsibility'. I know that I am able to manage and use technology to maintain an equilibrium between reality and virtuality. I am fully capable of preserving personal character, in order to maintain myself as a responsible member of the community within which I work, play and live. I understand the ethical and societal responsibility related to media content and its growing impact on young minds.
Creating children's television programming is a huge responsibility to the community and, as a parent, I understand that it is also a huge responsibility to the parents of the children that will be viewing the programming. Working in education-based programming for kids was a choice I made because of my deep-seeded moral need to be socially responsible in this regard. I made the choice so that I had a hand in the creation of programs that had the potential to better society instead of making it worse.
Technical Fluency
I was extremely fortunate to have worked in an animation studio that was the first studio to use digital technology to create television programming. This fostered the desire to maintain the cutting-edge-factor, meaning that I was always seeking new solutions to problems that were found outside the predictable areas.
I am proud to say that I was an integral part of the first animation studio to produce 3D content for television and the first to use Flash as a medium for animation. In this manner, I directed a team of creative individuals to implement the first digital system for breaking down dialogue and speech to phonetical sounds for lip sync animation.
I am always willing to tackle challenging problems and devise possible solutions, especially when the traditional methods of solving such problems don't work. This creative-solutions working environment is what pushed me towards enhancing my own personal growth to better my accomplishments.
All images are from the following free images website database:
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/search.php?search=presentation